Republican ‘Slab’ Murphy owes €190k in tax evasion case, court told

Alleged former IRA chief Thomas “Slab” Murphy owes the Irish exchequer almost 190,000 euro (£147,000) for eight years of tax dodging, a court has been told.

A sentencing hearing at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin for the 66-year-old bachelor farmer on Friday heard details of estimated income and interest built up after he evaded tax from 1996 to 2004.

Murphy, from Ballibinaby, Hackballscross, Co Louth, on the border with Northern Ireland, was found guilty of nine counts of tax fraud by three judges at the non-jury court in December.

He has been described by Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams as a good republican while Martin McGuinness, Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister, said peace was only secured thanks to support from men like him.

In 1998 he lost a libel action against the Sunday Times which described him as a senior IRA figure.

Paul Burns, senior counsel for the state, outlined to the judges the assessments made of Murphy’s earnings, taxes owed and interest.

The total tax bill for the eight years was 38,519.56 euro (about £30,000), the court heard.

Interest built up on those unpaid bills totals 151,445.10 euro (about £117,000), taking the final bill to 189,964.66 euro, Mr Burns said.

The court was told the figures were based on income of 15,000 euro (£11,600) a year from the Murphy farm.

“I want to make this clear - Tom Murphy has not made any settlement,” he said.